I must confess that I really liked the way you started your essay. However, you seemed bent upon influencing your readers that you want them to accept your view on the advantages of video games. Video games do have certain advantages; like the on you mentioned about critical thinking and hand-eye coordination. However, it just doesn’t seem right when you say that videogames build teamwork and developing communicative skills. I also find that you have contradicted your own view on the benefit of video games when you mentioned ‘The Call of Duty.’ You have been maintaining that video games offer a host of advantages, and if that is the case, why is it that you wouldn’t recommend it to your little brothers? You wrote that, “it doesn't necessarily sound like something I'd want my little brothers playing, but it's not the gameplay itself being evaluated, but the processes and experiences within it.” I’m sorry to say this, but I didn’t really didn’t understand what you meant by gameplay, and processes and experiences within it. Additionally, you also mention that thousands of Americans play this game of ‘The Call of Duty,’ including you.
I may be wrong, but don’t you think, like you have been saying all along, that videogames are good for the mental and physical development of an individual? You seem to contradict your own view here. If you, like the thousands who played this particular game, are as normal as any other American kid in the U.S, what harm would it do to your younger brothers, if they played this game? I’m not arguing, but I just felt that this is one view where you can correct or educate me on the benefits of video games. You even when on record to guarantee that this video game, like many others, has immense benefits. If that is the case, why not allow your younger brothers to benefit from it just as much as you did? You gave an impressive list of benefits of playing videogames, such as, “personality expression and experimentation, communication skills, critical thinking, puzzle solving, hand-eye coordination, mental expansion, increased reaction time, and comprehension of material.” While I would readily agree that videogames have been found to assist in better hand-eye coordination, critical thinking, enhancing reaction time through continuous effort, and puzzle solving, I don’t think they will help in personality expression and experimentation (a phrase I find rather confusing), and in developing communicative skills. Not all video games allow for teamwork or team-building.
If playing volleyball is time-consuming, I think videogames are time killers. Outdoor games instigate more physical activity and these activities burn calories and increase muscle strength. It also allows better circulation of the blood, which carries oxygen to the different parts of the body. Volleyball is a team sport, and by playing this game, you learn to develop team spirit and team work. This is also a sport that requires you to communicate with your team members, which helps develop your communicative skills. You made a very valid point by saying that ‘games’ keep kids out of trouble; but videogames are great influencers and games like ‘On Call of Duty,’ could develop a negative influence on kids, a reason why you didn’t want your younger brothers to play this game. I feel the use of the word, ‘Distraction,’ was inappropriate in the context of ‘glorifying’ games. While it does dissuade youngsters from getting into drugs, gang wars, alcohol and sexual activities, it curbs a youth’s cognitive skills development and turns him/her into a taciturn.
When you mentioned your friend, who herself, is a volleyball player, and who is into drugs and alcohol, I can vouch that she would be a ‘one-in-a-million,’ case. Professional and serious sport competitors are health conscious and wouldn’t risk getting into such activities out of fear of spoiling their careers. Your friend is using the sport as an excuse to indulge in such health-affecting activities. She should know better than that to plan her time.
